For Mutual Benefit and Fair Value
by Tallin Beckett
Summary: The mysterious and deadly pirate 'Captain Black' has an agenda, an agenda the rest of the pirates might not be too fond of. Having spent years waiting for her moment what she needs is a diversion and maybe a partner in crime. OC/Cutler Beckett. OC/Cutler Beckett
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It was a warm spring day in the south of England and the Springhaven Estate was buzzing with birds and bees as the warm sun shone down through the still slightly chilly breeze.

Inside the small schoolhouse built by Jonathan Beckett Senior on his estate Schoolmaster Angus MacFarlin had finished the school day and was cleaning off the chalkboard

As he turned to leave the small room he suddenly spied the outline of a figure out of the corner of his eye standing in the doorway of the schoolroom leaning against the door post. They were wearing a knee length coat of some sort and a wide brimmed hat with a feather sticking out on top. He stopped addressing his class and called out

"Can I help you?"

The figure standing in the doorway stood up straight and began to walk with an easy stride inside the room.

"Mr. MacFarlin you didn't tell me you were no longer teaching at Oxford. You've no idea what a bother its been trying to find you"

The voice was a woman's voice and she spoke chidingly but with genuine warmth.

As soon as he heard the voice Angus MacFarlin's face broke into a wide smile

"Ah my Enyo, where have ya been lassie?"

Walking gladly towards the visitor he threw his arms around her, emphasising her curvy build, and hugged her briskly and tightly

"Everywhere" she replied as she drew back and smiled broadly at her friend "oh and 'Captain Black' might be better under the circumstances"

"Right you are" he said just happy and surprised to see his old friend

"And what might you be doing here?"

"I came to see you" she replied but he shook his head

"Oh no you didn't. You've not been to visit me since Oxford, that was nearing 10 years ago"

She smiled playfully

"Ok well you are right, I'm not being strictly truthful, I have business with Jonathan Beckett at Springhaven but I did know you were teaching here or else why would I be poking around schoolhouses?"

"Business with Mr. Beckett? I didn't see you taking up the mantle of tradesman"

Captain Black shook her head.

"Indeed no" she said "but Mr. Beckett and I did do a little business sometime ago while he and his family were up in London and as I was passing through I thought I'd pay him a visit and see if he didn't fancy settling up the bill for what he bought"

It sounded legitimate enough only MacFarlin, aware of what kind of 'business' Captain Black dealt in, knew there would be more to the story that she was not going to disclose to him.

Still he did not press her on the details

"So is Mr. Beckett expecting you?"

She shook her head, her smile returning

"No I thought I'd make it a surprise" she said her blue eyes twinkling.

Jonathan Beckett Senior sat behind his large ornate desk in his office while his sons, 22 year old Jonathan Beckett Junior and 20 year old Bartholomew filed papers and wrote correspondence to the various ship captains whom they employed.

The room was silent apart from the shuffling of papers and the scratch of quill pens on thick paper.

But the peace and tranquillity of Springhaven was soon to be disturbed.

By and by there came a knock on the door and after being asked to enter the butler, with sombre countenance and languid demeanour, announced that there was "a Captain Black to see you Sir"

Hearing the name caused Jonathan Beckett Senior to look up sharply and make a smudge on the paper he was writing on.

"What does _she_ want?"

Speaking half to himself and half out loud he was clearly agitated by the sudden announcement

His sons heard the comment and were now looking over at him.

"Father, didn't we receive an invoice from a Captain Black some months back? It was marked 'London Expenses' Bartholomew asked "what was that for?"

"That's right, we did, I think it was for food and drink and trips to the theatre to entertain some investors"" remarked Jonathan and Mr. Beckett waved his hand to silence them.

"We paid that invoice" Jonathan Beckett told his sons gruffly "this 'Captain Black' is clearly trying to extort money from me. The cheek. Well we'll soon put pay to that. Show her in"

He gestured to the butler but he needn't have because no sooner were the words out of his mouth than 'Captain Black' had entered with a flamboyant swagger and flanked by two large burly men, one with a dark beard and long hair tied in a ponytail whom she introduced as 'Mr. Roberts' and the other with stubble and lighter wavy hair left loose who was introduced as 'Mr. Kidd'

Jonathan Beckett started in his chair and his sons look bemused

Speaking in an airy voice and cocking her head on one side Captain Black looked pointedly at the father with lowered lids and a pert expression

"Mister Jonathan Beckett" she paused for dramatic effect "senior. I do believe you've been somewhat remiss in replying to my correspondence"

Jonathan Beckett sat back in his chair and stared at her with carefully controlled dislike

"I think there has been some mistake madam for I don't believe we have had any necessity for correspondence at all"

The sea captain smiled which annoyed Jonathan Beckett and produced five or six half rolled sheets of paper from the inside of her red heavy coat.

"These are bills Mr. Beckett. Now if you were in the habit of paying your bills I'd have no need whatsoever to write to you, and I don't mind saying this and my men will attest to the truthfulness of what I am about to say, that I hate writing letters it makes my hand ache and there's far more interesting things I could be doing with my hands than writing to pesky middleclass philanderers who don't pay their bills"

The butler coughed and Mr. Kidd and Mr Roberts gave a low chuckle at their captain's thinly veiled vulgarity

Jonathan Beckett, now inches away from seething, dismissed the butler from the room and reached reluctantly for the sheets Captain Black had placed on his desk.

As he did this his son Bartholomew quickly spoke up

"I say you're not going to give this extortionist the time of day are you father?"

Neither of Jonathan Beckett's elder boys were aware of their fathers debts.

They were well aware of the money he had spent and what it had bought the three of them, namely alcohol and whores, but they had assumed that their father had settled these 'accoutrements' of their trips to London while still in the capital and Bartholomew felt affronted at the very thought of their father being accused of not paying for what he'd used.

Even so as the words had finished coming out of his mouth he had thought better of his outburst.

Even if this was some sort of illegal shakedown what could they do? It wasn't as though they could wrestle her and her burly and decidedly armed and criminal looking accomplices off the estate. It was doubtful that she wouldn't spread lies about their father if they did this.

If it was lies.

After speaking Bartholomew retreated silently to the window behind his fathers chair.

Captain Black smiled at him and took four steps over to Jonathan Beckett's desk followed silently by her 'accomplices'

He had made no mention still of paying the bills she'd presented and so, perching herself on the one corner of the desk, she leaned towards the silent merchant so that nobody could see or hear what was said

He felt the soft and steady flow of her breath on his face but along with that the hard barrel of one of her pistols pressed coldly into his ribs

"The thing is, Sir," she said the word 'sir' slightly mockingly "I can't tell what a good lady like myself might be driven to do when faced with bad business by a respectable English gentleman like yourself. So, better pay up ey?"

Breathing in short raspy breaths for Jonathan Beckett was a coward, he managed to speak

"I'll need a little time to get the money together"

Smiling, Captain Black sat upright leaning away from the nervous merchant and speaking in an elevated tone

"Perfectly acceptable" she said "I've always enjoyed the West Country in the spring. I'd be delighted, me and my associates here, to spend a few days with you while you acquire the money"

His sons looked at him shocked, thinking that their father had invited these miscreants to stay, in their house!

Jonathan Beckett himself started in his chair at her preposterous comment. But he hadn't the stomach to tell her no and so he discharged a smile filled with resentment and was careful to avoid the gazes from his sons.

"I'll inform the housekeeper that you'll be staying" he said in a low tone.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - Springhaven**

Jonathan Beckett had had an unfortunate day.

Not only had his cowardice acquired him a gaggle of bloodthirsty pirates and their lady captain defiling his elegant country estate but it had so happened that their defiling had coincided with what was supposed to have been a refined dinner that he had organised some time ago for some of his wealthiest titled associates.

He had been intent upon making a good impression and hopefully getting one step closer to the thing that had had eluded all Beckett's but which was most sought after of all, a title.

That evening as he sat at the head of his beautifully lain huge table adorned with all manner of delicacies and fripperies he felt his chances of ever attaining such a thing slipping away as each second passed.

Each violent tale animatedly recounted by Mr. Kidd and each vulgar joke dryly told by Captain Black and the most informative dissertations given by Mr. Roberts on the many forms of unpleasant disease and injury he had encountered would, and Mr. Beckett was sure of this, destroy not only his good name in the area but also the excellent reputation that he had built up in London.

He was too close minded to see that his guests were having a wonderful time!

As with most persons of high breeding his guests were fascinated to their very core with anything out of the ordinary as long as it wasn't adversely affecting them and indeed Captain Black and her crew were doing everything, in the guests opinion anyway, to enhance an already delightful soiree.

The tales of craftily executed villainy were marvellous, they weren't the ones being robbed so it was alright! The licentious stories from Captain Black's many and prosperous whorehouses were titillating, they weren't the ones at the butt of the joke so that was alright too! Even the mention of the horrendous illnesses and experiences of botched surgery that Mr. Roberts had encountered did nothing to dampen their sprits, they didn't have the pox, their noses weren't falling off nor were they having a leg amputated with nothing but a bread knife and gin for anaesthetic. On the contrary they had in their midst a collection of fascinating scallywags and a beautiful mysterious lady captain.

The drink was flowing, the tales were fantastic, it was an excellent dinner!

"You'll join us in the drawing room for a few hands of cards won't you?"

Sir Thomas Grahame's suggestion directed at Mr Kidd and Mr. Roberts had brought forth a torrent of agreement and pleas from the assembled aristocrats and Mr. Kidd grinned an impish grin to Captain Black

"I warn you gentlemen I'm no novice" Captain Black's first mate replied to which Sir Thomas Grahame, one of the titled gentlemen present, chortled

"I should hope not good sir, I wouldn't have asked if I thought you anything but a seasoned player likely to rip me off!"

The room again dissolved into loud guffaws and Mr. Roberts spoke above the rowdy assembly

"We would be delighted too" he said in his Scottish burr and he paused with one eyebrow raised "but if its underhanded duplicitousness you're after then there's none better than our Captain Black. She'll screw you over in twenty different ways and your last wish will be that she really does 'screw you over' if you catch my meaning"

The listeners caught it very well and more bawdy laughter erupted

Gleefully Sir Thomas Grahame insisted "If this is true then you must join us, Captain"

Jonathan Beckett agitatedly rubbed at his forehead with his hand and Captain Black smiled charmingly, looking around at the assembled crowd

"Well I'm not sure if I should take what you just said as a compliment Mr. Roberts" she said looking over at him and he laughed "and I do think we shall have to have a little 'talk' when we get back to my ship but that said I would love to join you fine gentlemen all in a 'hand' or two of cards"

Emphasising the word 'hand' provocatively she rose from her chair and the assembled men collectively, maybe with the one exception of Mr. Beckett, wished she was rising to join them in their bedchamber where her hands could hold something other than cards.

An hour later and the guests were happily ensconced in the drawing room, those who were playing had their cards firmly in hand.

The room had a big fireplace over one end and a settee and various chairs surrounding a low level table in front of the fire. This long table was serving as the card table as there were too many to sit up to the smaller actual card table in the room. Also, the players wanted to be as comfortable as possible and it was most comfortable sitting in front of the warm fire with cards and whiskey near to hand.

Mr. Kidd had just won the game and a substantial amount of money too. The men were congratulating him and already suggesting another game when Captain Black got up to get more drinks for her and her men amid protestations than she should "Call the servants"

Softly but firmly dismissing the protests from the tipsy gentry she took hers and Mr Kidd's and Mr. Roberts glasses over to the drinks bar over the other end of the room.

As she filled the last empty glass on the red leather clad table the acutely sharp eyed Captain was sure she saw something move just outside of the door to the room which had been left open a jar.

Hearing that Mr. Kidd had embarked upon another brief tale of the time he'd wagered all the money he had on what was supposed to be an ancient Aztec talisman but that had turned out to be a shrivelled up alligator head, Captain Black decided to investigate.

Quietly walking over to the door, her footsteps muffled by the loud talking going on in the room, she slipped out into the dark candle lit corridor and was surprised to see a child, a little boy of perhaps four or five years old dressed in a nightshirt and dressing gown, sat on the floor outside the door.

He looked up with shock as she came out of the room and scrambled to his feet, he only stood as tall as her thigh

Captain Black smiled warmly down at him "Hello little thing" she said

He froze.

He'd been caught. He hadn't meant to be. She...well she looked like a...pirate! There was a pirate in his house, a real one!

The little boy was suddenly struck by terror by the thought that she was going to murder him.

After few seconds of silence apparently deciding what was best to do, whether to run away or stay and speak, the little boy spoke

"My name is Cutler Beckett" he told her with a stiff little bow "Mr. Beckett is my father"

Captain Black crouched down in front of him resting one elbow on her knee putting him at ease and shook his hand

"Very pleased to meet you Mr. Cutler Beckett. What are you doing out here this late? Shouldn't you be in bed?"

He nodded and looked down at the floor, knowing he was in the wrong for not being in bed where he was supposed to be.

"Yes" he said finally "but I couldn't sleep and I came down to get some milk and I heard a man telling a story and it sounded interesting and I wanted to listen"

Captain Black nodded.

She thought little Cutler very cute, he was so serious and small.

The boy continued

"So I sat down here on the floor with my milk and listened and when he'd finished I waited to see if he would tell another one and he had just started to tell another when you came out"

Looking down to the floor the captain noticed that there was indeed an empty glass sat on the floor next to where the little boy had been sitting and she chuckled to herself.

"Well that story that my first mate is telling now is not worth losing sleep over to hear I promise you" she said nodding her head in the direction of the room of gamblers "its a load of old croc, literally"

Cutler Beckett didn't understand and there was another slight pause.

Looking at him she noticed he had small cut by his bottom lip and few little grazes elsewhere so she inquired as to how he'd got them and he told her.

Apparently few days earlier some boys older and bigger than he was at his school had beaten him up, for no real reason other than the fact that he was small and a good student but, he said, she mustn't tell his father or he'd be angry with him. He wondered to himself after why he had told her. But she promised she wouldn't tell his father and then she asked how old he was

"Seven" he replied promptly

"Seven?"

"Yes, seven"

Captain Black tried her best to not look too phased by the announcement. He was rather small, for seven. Still she shook it off and smiled again

"Do you think you'll be able to sleep now you've heard the stories?" she asked and he shook his head.

She looked thoughtful

"Do you want to come in there with me and help me win some money?"

He shook his head again after glancing through the door that was still open a little and seeing who was in there

"That's Jeremiah's father. Jeremiah's one of the boys that beat me up" he said pointing a small finger in the direction of Sir Thomas Grahame "I don't like him"

Captain Black looked over at the offending parent and then back at Cutler and tried to think of another proposition that might be acceptable to the little Beckett.

"Well if you come in with me seeing as you don't want to go bed we could cheat Jeremiah's dad out of a tidy sum of money as a lesson for not teaching his son to be nice. How about that?"

Cutler Beckett thought about this. He had to admit it sounded fun, much more fun that going to bed and so he nodded his head slowly with a little smile beginning at the corner of his mouth

Captain Black beamed

"Excellent" she said sweeping him up off the floor and resting him on one side of her curvy hips, he was easily small enough to be carried.

He looked astonished at being picked up, it wasn't really the done thing in the upper echelons of society to carry, cuddle or otherwise interact with ones children but little Cutler Beckett rather liked it

Returning to the drawing room and the warm fire and comfy seating Isabella Black was greeted by a cascade of 'welcome backs' from the tipsy gentlemen.

They were also most entertained by the sudden presence of the youngest Beckett boy, unlike his father who, at seeing his son being carried into the room by the scurrilous Captain Black nearly choked on his whiskey.

"What on earth do you think you're doing with my son?" he spluttered having reached the end of his tether with this woman and her cronies.

She responded to his outburst with only a smile as she sat down, setting the little boy between herself and the arm of the sofa.

"Nothing untoward I assure you sir" she finally replied having gotton herself and Cutler comfortable "I shall of course be waiting until he is at least a couple of years older for that sort of thing"

She winked at the assembled company and a nervous twitter of laughter issued from the titled gentlemen at the comment made by the captain.

Mr. Kidd just rolled his eyes with a grin as he and indeed the rest of her crew were used to the improprieties that frequently sprang from Isabella Black's mouth.

Cutler of course was blissfully unaware of the connotations of what she'd said and, wanting to join in, simply laughed along with the rest of them.

However the rest of the guests, although being shamefully entertained by her badness, weren't terribly sure if it was right to laugh at such a suggestion even one made in jest, especially so when the child's father was present and not only that but was their host.

It was sordid and tasteless but it was no good, try as they might to not be so, the aristocratic gentleman were smitten and entranced by Captain Black. By the way she so brazenly and carelessly danced across the line of appropriate and completely inappropriate behaviour, flitting backwards and forwards between the two with no apparent shame.

She was wonderful. Bad and wonderful and becoming more so the drunker they became.

Jonathan Beckett on the other hand was neither entranced nor smitten with the unscrupulous captain and even less so after her intimation, albeit jokingly, that she was going to wait perhaps two more years and then molest his son!

He seethed as she settled down with her arm around Cutler's little shoulders and arranged the cards given her by Mr. Kidd who was acting as the dealer.

"Now then hopefully you're going to be my good luck charm" she whispered to Cutler who was looking at the cards and watching how she arranged them

"Are you having trouble?" he asked and she nodded her head confessing that she hadn't won a single game. Pulling a face she went back to arranging the cards and he giggled.

As it happened Isabella did win that next game, and the next and the next and indeed all of the games until the visiting gentlemen were near cleared out of the money that they had brought with them, the worst off of all of them being as Isabella had promised Sir Thomas Grahame.

As the last gold piece was being popped into its leather coin purse the now happily inebriated and exhausted aristocrats were leaning back in their chairs and talking of bed.

Little Cutler Beckett had fallen asleep around two games in. The warmth of the fire and the cosiness of being snuggled up had proved too much for the young lad and coupled with the lateness of the hour he had been overpowered by his own sleepiness. He was now curled up in a ball with his head resting on Isabella's lap and his little hand holding onto her leg.

Isabella carefully lifted him up off of the sofa and rested his head on her shoulder as the visiting gentlemen all bade each other goodnight.

Those who could were staying the night but those who had business elsewhere were travelling on their various destinations.

Captain Black carried the boy up to his bedroom after having acquired its exact coordinates within Springhaven from Jonathan Beckett who now couldn't see the point in trying to stop her from doing what she wanted.

It was late and he was tired and he had no energy left.

Tucked up in his bed with his blankets covering him Cutler stirred

"Are you really a pirate, Isabella?" he asked her half asleep.

"I am"

He nodded and yawned as she stroked the little tufts of his hair.

"I've got a book about pirates, my schoolmaster gave it to me. I'll show you tomorrow."

"I look forward to it"

He smiled and drifted off to sleep again. His dreams that night would be filled with pirates, adventures and all kinds of exciting things.

Captain Isabella Black and her two crewmen stayed for nearly two months and Isabella spent a lot of time with little Cutler Beckett.

She found him to be a very sensible boy and smart for his age for he could allready run rings around Schoolmaster MacFarlin's other students when it came to Latin or Greek or Mathematics. He was a good writer and very intuative.

He opened up to her and told her things that he'd have never dreamed of telling anyone else, not even Mister Macfarlin.

However, the time came for her to leave and although he found himself sad when she finally did go, locking himself in his bedroom for a full hour so that nobody saw him cry, he was comforted by the fact that she had told him when she would be back.

Only three months to wait and she always lived up to her promise, arriving on the exact day and the exact hour that she'd told him she would.

After that whenever she left she would always tell him exactly when she would be back.

She didn't share this information with anyone else and her visits were always a 'nice surprise' as Jonathan Beckett would say through gritted teeth.

The fact that only he knew when she was coming was another thing that made the leaving a bit more bearable. It was a delicious secret that he kept all to himself and he silently ticked the days off his calendar.

Sometimes they would meet in London when his family were down.

Isabella was known simply as 'Lady Black' in London society and she was presumed to be the young widow of a wealthy aristocrat whom nobody really knew. They met at the theatre, at the coffee houses.

When they were in London it was odd, he recalled, how frequently they were in the same place. He knew meeting her continually annoyed his father but he couldn't understand why. Cutler Beckett had always thought Captain Black very agreeable but then he and his father did often differ quite substantially in their opinions. Something that came more and more the forefront the older he got.

Captain Black would visit Springhaven several times a year until Cutler reached around the age of 15 and then she told him she had pressing business elsewhere and wasn't sure when she would next visit.

As it happened that would be the last time she would visit Springhaven for many years.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two - Le Requiem**

Isabella Black's 'business' had taken her to Singapore.

Some of her biggest and most lucrative whorehouses were there in the Asian capital. She also had a 'siheyuan' there, a type of Chinese mansion comprising of an enclosed courtyard with the house surrounding that on four sides.

It was from there that she operated a brisk and fast moving trade in illegal drugs, bootleg alcohol and slaves.

Her extended time in England and in particular Springhaven had meant that rival 'traders' were beginning to get a bit too blasé and she was in danger of losing some of her hold over them. Also her suppliers and buyers were beginning to talk back, trying to undercut her and so it was for this reason, along with some other minor technicalities, that she had found it necessary to spend longer than she had anticipated to re-establish herself as a formidable player in the Singaporean underworld.

While she was there she had received correspondence from a Captain Jean-Christophe de Rapier (Isabella called him 'Charles' because she couldn't remember his name and she thought him ridiculous), a French pirate, who although well known for being a violent bully, was not the most conversant in what was going on outside of his own ship and so was not aware of the difficulties that were beginning in Singapore.

As it was he had slaves to sell and he wanted to know if she was interested.

He was often trying to get in Captain Black's good books for he, like many vaguely sensible pirates and seamen, feared her.

The wording contained in the letter was crawling and servile and Captain Black had screwed it up after reading it and thrown it in the fire.

She reasoned that by the time she'd sailed from Singapore to where he was in the America's the slaves would be gone, either sold or killed, so there was no point going.

Still having ultimately done what she had set out to do, re-establishing her name in Singapore, she decided that it might be time to leave and perhaps go back to England, maybe visit Springhaven, so she got her ship stocked and set sail that week.

Her ship sailed quickly, unnaturally quickly and it wasn't too long before she'd sailed through Indonesia, past South Africa and the Congo and had reached Morocco there she had the ship re-stocked for the journey to England.

But while she was there she heard through word of mouth from her crew interacting with locals and other pirates in taverns that Captain de Rapier was looking for her and he was anchored off of a remote part of the Spanish coast. Apparently he had more captives to sell and as he was on the way Isabella decided that she would meet with him this time.

It would be another good opportunity to send out the message that she was still very much in business and had suppliers other than the ones based in Singapore thus making the point to them that she was not beholden to those merchants only to fill her brig.

"The Phantom's coming up the bow!"

The cry went through the decks of Captain de Rapier's ship Le Requiem alerting all that Captain Black's ship had arrived.

The pirates scrambled and the order was given to assemble the captives up on deck to await inspection by the visiting pirate captain.

Little Cutler Beckett from Springhaven was among them.

He was now 18 years old and had left home not three weeks previously after a raging argument with his father, Jonathan Beckett, and taken up employment with the East India Trading Company.

Posted to the company's office in Gibraltar he had booked passage on the ship the Lindesfarne out of London

Unfortunately the ship had been attacked by Captain de Rapier and everything pillaged.

Poor Cutler had been put through a horrific ordeal aboard Le Requiem for insulting the captains dress sense, a very unwise thing to do to a French pirate and now after weeks of terrible treatment by the pirates he was frightened starving and scarred

All of Captain de Rapiers captives had been forced to work under the lash aboard Le Requiem performing various menial tasks. Cutler had been assigned the task of emptying the bilges, a disgusting job and ridiculous for a person of such height and build as he was, still the pirate crew found it all the more amusing watching him attempting to haul the large wooden bucket full of the noxious water from the bottom of the ship to the top again and back all day long.

He was lowering the bucket into the foul smelling stagnant water when one of de Rapier's crewmen grabbed him by the scruff of his collar

"To the deck with you, the Phantom's waiting" he snarled in low broken English

"What's the Phantom?" Cutler asked with surprise as the pirate roughly began to drag him off toward a small wooden staircase

Pausing only to laugh at the young man for his ignorance the pirate told him

"Slave ship"

Cutler's face fell

"No no no you don't understand, my father will send the ransom for me I promise" he desperately tried to release himself from the burly pirates grip but it was no use, his plea's fell on deaf ears for little Cutler could make no such bold statement.

Jonathan Beckett had not sent a ransom for his son like many of the families of the other captives of Le Requiem had done.

No his father had in fact ignored the ransom demand made by de Rapier in an ultimate act of revenge for the things his son had accused him off in their last meeting and Cutler Beckett was hauled off to the deck along with the remaining captives from the Lindesfarne.

Up on deck he saw his fellow prisoners already assembled and weeping into their sleeves or hankies, whatever they could reach first, in the shadow of the much larger vessel alongside, the 'slave ship' The Phantom.

Cutler Beckett couldn't think of a worse fete than being sold as a slave and had tried several times to end it all by jumping overboard when he'd learned that was what awaited him.

But the pirates had kept a close watch on him preventing him from carrying out his attempts.

He hadn't known why they had stopped him for they had been very thorough in telling him over and over again how little he would fetch in a slave auction due to his size so surely they wouldn't be missing out on much.

He presumed it was just another of their twisted games they liked to play, making people suffer for as long as they could.

But now faced with the reality of being taken off in this hulking great black ship he felt more terrified than he'd felt before.

His little hands shook as he fiddled absentmindedly with the thick frayed Hessian twine handle of the large wooden bucket he was still carrying As he nervously watched the two captain's talking he suddenly realised who the 'slave ship' captain was.

It was Captain Black.

Isabella Black who'd used to visit him at Springhaven.

He was so utterly relieved to see her that he wanted to call out to her but found he was too terrified to make a sound.

Instead the best he could manage was a choked whisper

"Isabella"

Although his murmur was quite indiscernible to anything tangible it was the indefinable that courted Isabella Black and somehow his little whisper reached her ears

"Cutler Beckett?"

She turned around and saw him standing there with his bucket.

"It is Cutler Beckett" she repeated half to herself and half to her first mate Mr. Kidd who had boarded with her "what on earth is he doing here?"

Mr. Kidd shook his head, he was as surprised as she, and Captain Black immediately left her conversation she had been having with Captain de Rapier and went over to Cutler.

"What are you doing here, I thought you were in England?" she said as she approached him.

He looked up at her trembling slightly and just shook his head unable to formulate anything and then without saying a word he threw his arms around Isabella's waist and held onto her with a limpet like grip, burying his face into her thick black coat and began to sob loudly.

"What's wrong? What's happened?" Isabella exclaimed taken aback holding him tightly

The string of words that came from Cutler Beckett's mouth were unidentifiable due to the volume of tears and Mr. Kidd's surprise changed to delicious anticipation as his mouth turned up in a grim half smile.

He was not smiling at the state little Cutler was in, no it was rather at how much Captain de Rapier would be going down in Isabella's already low estimation of him for inflicting this on someone whom she had taken a liking too. A strong liking at that.

While gently comforting the hysterical teenager Isabella thundered for "Charles!" with a face as dark as her namesake

Captain de Rapier swaggered up.

He had been seeing this display of affection between Isabella and Cutler as a demonstration of the captain's motherly side or perhaps she just was just partial to a bit of play with very young men, either way de Rapier unwisely smelled that a deal could be done.

"Ah mon cherie you have found one you like" he said walking around in a semi circle to face her "have any of my other fine merchandise caught your eye and if so what sort of offer will you making me for them?"

Isabella looked up grimly from trying to placate Cutler and she sharply answered the fashionable French captain

"I'll have the two men on the end, not the fat one, and the two blondes and the brunette, all the rum your pathetic boat is carrying and I won't gauge your eyeballs out of their sockets with my cutlass. How's that for an offer?" she barked

Her dark eyes sparkled like the sea as she eyed de Rapier un blinkingly and he let out a small chuckle trying to seem nonchalant.

Then he stopped.

He saw that she was serious.

She was going to 'steal' his 'stolen goods', make him look a laughing stock again in front of his crew.

The two captains stood face to face in silence, Isabella just begging de Rapier to contest her ridiculous 'offer' and de Rapier hoping against hope that it was a joke and she was in fact going to pay up and not order The Phantom to blow seven bells out of his smaller vessel

Neither of the two were prepared for the silence to be broken by a fearful Cutler Beckett, terrified of what might happen to him if the captain was spoken rudely to

"Don't make him angry Isabella" Cutler sobbed having lifted his head briefly from the folds of her coat "please"

It was the first time either of them had been in a situation where someone was more frightened of de Rapier's response than Isabella's and neither knew quite how to respond

In a confused silence they, along with Mr. Kidd, looked down at Cutler Beckett.

Being the first to recover, perhaps because comment had been made in his favour, Captain de Rapier produced a smug smile. He was about to say something to the effect of 'at least someone has sense' when Isabella briskly interrupted him

"Shut up Charles"

Ignoring whatever else de Rapier did or didn't have to say she turned her attention to Cutler

His loud wails had been replaced by a few sporadic sobs and she spoke soothingly to him

"Now Cutler, don't be frightened you're safe," she began.

Instantly he started to explain to her in a very animated fashion why he wasn't safe but Isabella kindly brushed off his concerns.

"You're quite safe now I'm here don't worry" she reiterated casting a glance over to de Rapier "Old snail breath, and by that I mean 'Charles' can't do anything to you"

He looked up at her with a tear streaked face.

"Are you sure?" he asked quietly and she nodded smoothing his messy hair down with the palm of her hand.

"Quite sure, I promise"


	4. Chapter 3

Back in England things hadn't been fairing much better for Cutler's father Jonathan Beckett

Two of his largest ships had been sunk by pirates and his accountant Mr. Edward Blatch had set out a detailed report on just how much that had cost the merchant in terms of lost goods, not to mention the compensation he would have to pay to the widows of the seamen serving on those ships and the ships themselves.

Jonathan Beckett was not happy.

He sat in his study and rested his head in his hands after reading the report, staying silent for several minutes.

"I don't know what I'm going to do" he said finally "those pirates are going to ruin me, ruin us"

His sons who had been there at the time stood quiet.

The attacks on the Beckett Shipping fleets had been getting more and more frequent since well, since their father had stopped paying for protection to put it bluntly.

It was customary for merchants of the time to either pay mercenaries to escort their ships on the longer and more dangerous journeys or to have their own warships.

The trouble was that the former were unreliable and likely to plunder the ships themselves if they deemed the cargo to be exquisite enough and the latter were immensely costly.

As a novice just starting up in business Mr Beckett had lost more than his fair share of money and goods due to badly chosen mercenaries before he'd been given some advice from a fellow merchant who had strong connections to the cities vast underworld; "Ask Lady Black"

The elusive 'Lady Black' was a well kept secret but known for arranging protection for ships at a cost.

Mr. Beckett had taken the advice kindly given and sought her out, although he didn't rate the advice as highly as he should have. Because he was a bit of a self confessed misogynist he didn't see what some woman could do that a band of highly trained mercenaries couldn't.

He was to be surprised however because the very same week he paid his first payment to Lady Black the assaults on his vessels ceased and he could trade freely and peacefully.

Then it was he who listened with hypocritical fake sympathy as the next up and coming merchants lamented the loss of their ships as many a businessman had done to him.

This all happened a good few years before Cutler was born and for one reason and another, mainly because he felt he'd paid her quite enough, the payments stopped being made and for a time he had thought that he had got away with it as nothing changed.

No one attacked his ships and he continued to enjoy lucrative trade.

But recently, very recently, the attacks had begun again and Mr. Beckett was at a loss what to do. He didn't want to begin making payments again, to go crawling back as he saw it, to 'Lady Black' and ask for protection again but he was losing so much money.

There was nothing else to be done he was going to have to contact her.

He silently opened his desk and took out a piece of paper and dipped his pen in the ink pot.


	5. Chapter 4

Meanwhile Isabella had taken Cutler back to her ship.

The evening was drawing in and she wanted her ships doctor Mr. Roberts to make sure the French pirates hadn't done any lasting physical damage to him before she was going to carry on any business with de Rapier.

The French captain was obviously not too pleased with her decision; he wanted to do business with her and get away again as quick as he could because Isabella made him uneasy.

But now she'd gone back to her ship taking one part of his cargo, namely Cutler Beckett, with her. But if he wanted to trade with her he had no other choice than to abide by her wishes and stay anchored alongside her larger vessel.

Cutler had been silent as he boarded Isabella's ship. He was still frightened.

He had thought he'd known Isabella well but seeing her in this setting was completely different to anything he'd experienced before.

The other pirates who had been so brutal and so evil to him were scared of her they did what she told them, even de Rapier their captain and that made him nervous.

Isabella was exchanging a few words with Mr. Kidd before she dispatched him to another part of the ship.

Cutler looked up at her, fear written all over his young face, and she smiled down at him reassuringly

"Don't look so worried, I told you you're safe here" she said lightly ruffling his hair

She nodded her head downwards at the pirates moving around aboard Le Requiem below them

"Look at them all scurrying around like a plague of bilge rats on a sinking tender" she said to him grimly "it's a wonder they manage to sail that thing at all, all of them feeding off their captains backward excuse for a brain"

Cutler gave an innocent little chuckle at her disparaging words and Isabella nodded approvingly

"Much better" she said kindly

"Are ya opening up an orphanage aboard, lassie?" came a jovial Scottish voice from behind them "first the wee girly now this lad?"

It was Mr. Roberts, Isabella's ships doctor.

She laughed loudly

"No no, this ones 18. Bona fide addition to the crew, he is" she replied putting her hands on Cutler's shoulders.

Mr. Roberts brushed off her reply with an inquiring expression

"Aye? And is this the wee one from England? 18 now you say? Well time does fly" he said to Isabella with a cheeky wink

"Aye, it does" replied Isabella with equal cheek.

Unable to hide his surprise that she knew exactly how old he was Cutler asked

"How do you know how old I am? You must have remembered my birthday"

She nodded

"I did, but I must admit I've been a bit remiss on the gift giving side of things" she then added flirtatiously "I'll make it up to you I promise"

The way she said 'I'll make it up to you' made him feel embarrassed. He quickly shook his head mumbling something about how it didn't matter

Isabella turned her attention to Mr. Kidd.

He held up a letter

"De Rapier said he picked this up in Cadiz, its for you" he said.

Looking at Mr. Kidd Isabella took the letter and examined it. It had a three week old date stamp on it and was from England.

She opened it and read it quickly, her eyes flitting over the beautiful handwritten calligraphy.

It was the letter from Jonathan Beckett about the attacks on his ships. He was asking for protection

Finally she looked up and a grim smile spread over her face.

"Well well, Martinez has been on the prowl, probably looking for me, trying to get me to come out to play and we can't have that. Perhaps we'd better pay him a little visit"

Mr. Kidd grinned broadly.


End file.
